A brief catch-up with Canadian race and team owner Samatha Tan before she climbed aboard the #1 BMW M4 GT3 for the night practice session at Dubai Autodrome ahead of today’s 24H Dubai found the reigning 24H Series GT Champion in very positive form.
The Samantha Tan Racing team are fielding a pair of the new BMWs here, two of three (the other from Schubert Motorsport) that are making the global debut of the cars in customer hands.
“It’s a big step, and difficult to believe we have got this far so fast.
“We’ve shown we can do it in GT4 (the team won multiple titles last season including the overall GT class title in 24H Series and the class teams and drivers titles) and it was time to take the next step.
“We knew we wanted to the step up and the support from BMW with these cars has been fantastic.
So what is the plan with the cars after this race?
“One of the cars will travel with the 24H Series and do the full season whilst the other will be going back to the US for a season in GT World Challenge America.”
And for the future? This is clearly a plan with a multi-year aspect?
“Absolutely, this is a big investment and we are looking to the future.
“From the very start, I have seen racing at Le Mans as being a major target. And with GT3 cars able to race in so many places now, and even more places in the near future, the options are amazingly wide.
“If things come together I hope we can look to IMSA and the endurance races in 2023 with one car, but first we have to learn about the cars, and unlock the performance from them, and from the whole team.
“It’s a huge challenge but I am loving every single second.”
And with that, there was a warm farewell, and Sam suited up to get out on track.
With a stacked field at the 2022 24H Dubai it’s not going to be easy to get a good result, but keep an eye on the GT3 Pro class #28 M4 GT3 and the GT3 Pro-Am #1 for the first signs of how it’s going with the next chapter of a story that could take the team to IMSA and Le Mans.
